Some of your employees may not be as engaged with their work as you think. Use the following list to identify them.

Do you employ anyone who:

• ‘Sleepwalks’ through their work
• Does the basics and not much more
• Will not do extra work without financial inducement
• Opposes virtually everything in the workplace and undermines other colleagues’ positive attempts
• Is unhappy and doesn’t care who knows
• Produces poor quality work
• Has inconsistent attendance (more sick days than average)
• Claims that stress at work is responsible for all of their problems
• Is unlikely to say positive things about your business  
• Is damaging team working and relationships.

If your answer to a number of these is 'yes', you may have a problem. Individual members of the team may be disengaged.

Here's why engaged employees have the power to add:

• They take an average of 2.7 sick days per year, the disengaged ones take 6.2
• 70 per cent have a good understanding of how to meet customer meeds. Only 17 per cent of non-engaged employees say the same
• They are 87 per cent less likely to leave an organisation than the disengaged
• Replacing an employee can cost as much as their annual salary; high turnover among disengaged employees is expensive
• More are advocates for their organisation (67 per cent) against only three per cent of the disengaged 78 per cent would recommend their company’s products and services; 13 per cent of disengaged employees would do the same.

A motivated workforce leads to enhanced productivity and positive results for any business. And employees are motivated not only by personal gain, but also by feeling part of the pharmacy and contributing to its goals.

Many employers just try to ‘engage’ their staff. Many see it as an abstract management term and irrelevant to daily business. But can you afford not to engage your team?